Thursday 27 August 2009

Kung Fu Cyborg (2009) @ 机器侠 Metallic Attraction

metallic booger
Alex Fong Lik Sun 方力申 and Hu Jun 胡军 in Kung Fu Cyborg (2009).

At a glance:
Slap on the generic Chinese tag 'kung fu' to themes like mahjong, hip-hop, basketball, tootsie, cookin or even pandas - and you'll get a marketable movie title one way or another, the plot for which also never falls too far from the moniker. Don't be fooled by Kung Fu Cyborg: Metallic Attraction though. It really ain't HK's answer to Transformers no matter what you read. That trailer you watched and that poster you saw are red herrings as well. The Kung Fu Hustle director has reportedly said that the robot-human dynamics in this movie is more like Wall-E. Turns out the deceptively titled flick is actually a sci-fi rom-com with lead actor Alex Fong Lik Sun lookin like a cross between Astroboy, Andy Lau and Elvis. The Little Flying Fish, as he is dubbed in the Chinese-speakin entertainment world, plays a one-man Autobot named K-1 who's assigned under a kampung cop chief (Hu Jun) while actually servin undercover for a high-rankin government agent (Eric Tsang) to track down a kungfu-powered Decepticon named K-88 (Jacky Wu Jing). Meanwhile, the cop's sister (Sun Li) falls for Fonzie-wannabe K-1 and a resident nerd (Ronald Cheng) tries to ruins things.
Bad news on the doorstep:
Before Michael Bay could arrive on set to praise director Jeff Lau for makin an modestly entertainin CGI-heavy movie with reportedly just US$ 14 million (Revenge Of The Fallen has a US$200 million budget), the lot of them take us on a spectrum of genres and themes, from slapstick comedy and rural melodrama to extended robot animation and motion capture footages. There are some unexpected elements like redemption and sacrifice. However, it still feels like a hotpot of robot fun with insufficient thought put in on how to make a better movie.
Perennial wonderment:
How movie posters are such an important aspect of whether a movie makes it.
Reminds me of:
Suria Perkasa Hitam. Gaban. Voltron. What else?
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
If you're more inclined towards sittin at home to watch Ronald Cheng and Alex Fong on TVB's comedy cook show Beautiful Cooking, then that's alright too. Otherwise, give the flimsy but outrageous Kung Fu Cyborg a try, if only because the English subtitles are excellent and you want to watch a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously.1/2
Bonus material: